Editorial

Vote No on Measure 37

Measure 37 is not about fairness or justice. It's about dismantling land use laws that have protected Oregon from the kind of unregulated development that destroyed communities in California and other states.

By making land use rules too risky and expensive for local governments to implement, the measure effectively eliminates them. The cost to taxpayers could be millions of dollars. Keeping Wal-Mart out of neighborhoods might be impossible.

We have long supported land use reforms that would make regulations more realistic for conditions on the east side of the Cascades. But this measure is not about reform; it's about opening the floodgates for uncontrolled development that will turn Oregon into the kind of place many left behind, seeking a better, saner way of life.